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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: I don't own "The Pretender" or any of ist characters. Thanx for not suing! ~Oriana
~~~~~~~~~
Paper Snowflakes
Part III
by Orinana
"I never thought I'd say this, but you did a great job on breakfast, Parker." She had the sudden impulse to stick her tongue out at Jarod, but held it in. She'd just get him with another snowball later.
"So, what're we gonna do today?" Sam asked hopefully, looking between the two.
"Well, a trip to town is definitely out of the question," Parker sighed. She noticed Jarod avert his eyes, but made no comment. After all, it wasn't as if she wanted to bring him in, and--Wait a minute, where had that come from?
"Jarod says we're spending Christmas here," Sam announced, as she got up from her chair and picked up her empty plate.
"It does appear that way."
"Well, then, maybe we should decorate the cabin. We don't even have a tree, and--" -Sam's eyes widen in sudden realization- "Oh, no! How will Santa find me? We don't even have stockings!" This jarred Jarod from his brooding attitude, and he and Parker exchanged a nervous glance. How were they going to handle this emergency?
"Um, that's something that, er, you don't need to worry about. You know Santa's magical--he'll be sure to come here instead." Parker's smile faltered as Samantha headed off into the kitchen with slumped shoulders and a heavy sigh.
"No, he won't," she mumbled to herself. "I never even got to mail off my wish list."
"What're we going to do?!" Parker hissed as soon as the door swung shut behind Sam.
"Got me, but we have to do something," Jarod pointed out.
"Oh, a lot of help you are. An eight year old is going to lose her faith in Christmas, and we sit here, completely useless."
"Well what do you--" He stopped short as Sam re-entered the dining room.
"Thanks for putting your dishes away."
"No problem," she mumbled, settling back in her chair, and staring at the table. The two adults shot each other helpless looks.
"You know," Parker said suddenly, standing up from her chair, "that's a good idea, Sam." Both looked at her, confused. "Decorating the house. In fact, I bet you guys could even find a pretty cool tree outside. The snow isn't too bad right now--if you stayed close to the cabin, and tried to hurry."
"Yeah!" Sam shouted brightly in agreement, any sign of disappointment wiped from her face. "We can take the ax Jarod was using to chop wood!" She jumped out of her chair and ran into the living room.
"Sure, I'd like that," Jarod finally added. Samantha, however, was already done with her boots and slipping into her winter jacket. He leaned close to Parker. "This doesn't solve our problem."
"Don't worry," she assured him. "I've got a plan."
"And that would be--"
"I'm ready!" Sam unwittingly interrupted, running -as fast as possible in her puffy layers of winter garb- back to the table. Jarod smiled, and rose from the table.
"Go ahead outside, I'll just get my jacket. And stay next to the car!" he added, as she raced to the door. When the door closed behind her, he turned to face Parker as he picked up the ax that was leaning against a wall. "First we invade these people's home, now you've got me destroying their property. So, what's this great plan of yours?"
"While you go tree-hunting with Sam, I'm gonna hunt around the house. It's obvious these people don't have kids, but there's gotta be something we can give her."
"Wonderful, we're going to burglarize them, too."
"Oh, go chop down a tree. And try to buy me as much time as possible, but don't get lost or anything." She glanced out the window at the snow, large flakes peacefully falling."Who knows how long the weather'll stay this calm."
"Fine. Just do me a favor, and don't make anymore cooking attempts."
"I did a good job on those waffles, thank you very much."
"Yeah," Jarod grinned mischievously, "but I saw the burned remains of your first attempt in the garbage." He opened the door and ducked out before she could muster a reply.
~~~~~~~~~
Parker's laughter was still subsiding as she made her way down the upstairs hallway. No point in checking the bedrooms again, and it wasn't as if the bathroom had much to offer in the way of an eight-year-old's Christmas gift. This left the storage room, a task Parker was not looking forward to. Sure enough, no sooner had she opened the door to enter, than her sensitive nose began to itch in reaction to all the dust.
Nothing was stashed in boxes, and the stuffed room barely offered paths to the corners, where miscellaneous items reached nearly to the ceiling. One huge disorganized mess, a neat freak's nightmare. Parker raised an eyebrow as she passed a duck-shaped lamp. Obviously, good taste had not been a prerequisite for whomever had gathered all of this. One large table caught her eye, the items atop it covered with a blanket and a note pinned on: FOR BLOOMFIELD SPRING CHARITY AUCTION. She whipped off the blanket, immediately regretting the action as a large mushroom cloud of dust erupted in her face, resulting in a chain of three speedy sneezes.
Through reddened, watery eyes, Parker spied something in the middle of the table's clutter, and her smile returned.
~~~~~~~~~
"Miss Parker, Miss Parker!" Samantha's joyous shouts echoed through the cabin. Parker quickly moved out of her room, being sure to stop and shut the door. As she headed down the stairs, a scent of fresh pine greeted her. Sure enough, leaning against the wall next to the door was large, deep green tree.
"Isn't it great?" Sam beamed proudly, as Jarod sat wearily down on the couch. Parker gave him a questioning look.
"We had to find just the right tree," Jarod offered in way of an explanation, "and then I had to cut it down and drag it here." Besides, his eyes added silently with their slightly humored look, you did ask for me to keep her busy.
"You guys did a good job. And luckily, I found a tree stand upstairs, along with some other old stuff. No ornaments though."
"So how're we going to decorate it?"
"We'll make some," Parker decided. "It'll give us something to do tonight."
~~~~~~~~
By that evening, the tree was standing in one corner of the living room, completely decked out with foil stars, glitter-covered pine cones and a garland of popcorn. Jarod had lifted Sam up, and she'd placed a construction paper angel on top, the finishing touch. Parker hadn't been able to find any strands of lights either, but with all of the lights turned off, the fire reflected it admirably. They'd sat on the couch, Samantha in the middle, the others at opposite ends, enjoying the scene for the last 15 minutes or so, sipping hot cider and telling what they wanted for Christmas--not a bad ploy to find out what a certain little girl would've asked Santa for. Jarod noticed that Parker was more smiley than usual after that, but kept any comments to himself, snide, teasing or otherwise.
He downed the last of his cider, and turned to offer Sam some more, only to find her already asleep. He silently pointed her out to Parker, then reached over to pick her up. He'd just made it to the stairs when Sam woke up enough to mumble sleepily, "I want Miss Parker to tuck me in, too."
Up in her bedroom, they slipped her under the covers. Just as they were sneaking out, Sam sat up in bed. "Can I have a story, please?"
They looked at each other, and shrugged, then walked back over to the bed. Parker went around and got onto the bed, sitting next to Samantha, while Jarod perched on the edge of the other side.
"So, what story would you like to hear?"
"There was this really great one Jarod told me. Maybe you know another one with the same people." Jarod coughed uncomfortably, but didn't say anything.
"I might. Who was in the story?"
"Oh, it was really great. See, there's this huge kingdom, with an evil king named Raines, and an evil magician too, named Mutumbo."
"Oh, really," Parker said, giving Jarod a suspicious glance.
"Uh-huh. And there was Lyle, the court jester--" Parker laughed in spite of herself. "--and... and... oh, yeah! These two good mages, Sydney and Broots. And the fairy godmother, Catherine, helped them out. And the whole story was about Princess--"
"You know, Sam," Jarod cut off suddenly, "I don't think Miss Parker knows that one. In fact, that was the only story with those people." Samantha pouted unhappily. "Sorry, but I could tell you another story instead."
"Naw, that's the only good one."
"All right, then, good night."
"Yeah," Parker spoke up, smiling down at the little girl next to her, "sleep well."
"'Night." Jarod flicked on the lamp, then switched the light off as they headed out of the room. He looked at Parker for a reaction, but didn't get one, so waited for her say something. This was Parker, after all--she had an opinion on everything. However, she quietly picked up the cider mugs and carried them into the kitchen. He sat patiently on the couch, waiting to the weather the storm. No doubt a lecture on forcing his Centre opinions on some impressable little kid. Parker walked back in, and stood in front of him, hands on hips.
"There's just one thing I want to know," she said, her voice deep and fully serious, no hint of humor.
"Yeah?"
"Who'd you make Brigitte into?" He looked up in surprise, and saw her crack a smile. I'll be damned, he thought to himself. She actually thought it was funny. "Well?"
"The evil witch," he grinned. They both cracked up laughing.
~~~~~~~~~
"If only reality were more like a child's devices."
-Rosella Jacobson
"Not to sound rude or--what am I saying? Parker, it's 11:30 at night, and I've been running after a hyper kid all day, not to mention dragging a 9-foot tree all over god's creation. Why do you insist on keeping me up?"
"Samantha's been up and down all night. I wanted to make sure she was asleep for good."
"Yeah, what was up with that? It's like she was checking up on us or something."
"She's eight--who knows? Anyhow, this is what I wanted to show you." Parker opened the door to her room and shoved Jarod in, shot a look back towards Sam's room -wishing she didn't insist on having the door cracked- and slipped into the room as well, securing the door behind them. Parker's hand moved along the wall in the pitch black room blindly, groping for the light switch.
"Aw, honey, you should've just told me you wanted to make out."
"Oh, shut up." Her hand finally came across the switch, and flicked it on. She brushed past Jarod, and opened the closet door, motioning for him to look in. He did so, and his jaw dropped.
"My faith in Santa Claus has been renewed."
"I found it in the storage room," she said excitedly, picking up the large dollhouse and carrying it to the bed. "With a bunch of other stuff to be sold at an auction." Her eyes slid to the side to look at him. "And you can rest your pretty conscience about all that burglary nonsense--I put $50 in its place on the table." Jarod continued to inspect the dollhouse.
"I still can't believe this. I mean, this fits the description of what she wanted exactly. 'Blue with yellow shutters and a black roof, two stories, eight rooms.' " he quoted. "Even has the same wallpaper and carpet she mentioned."
"I realized that, too. And then I remember the old price tag I saw on the bottom." Jarod lifted it and looked under.
"Summerset Toys, huh? I forgot that was a chain. Well, the mystery is solved." He looked over at her. "Now all we have to do is find a way for Santa to stuff a stocking."
"Enough thinking for tonight," Parker sighed, placing the dollhouse back in the closet. "I'm tired. We'll talk in the morning."
"Right, sleep well." Jarod headed to his own room, and she willingly slid into a nightgown, only to find it far too cold, and so changed into a sweatshirt and flannel pants. Turning the light off, she took the two short steps to the bed, and eagerly headed under the covers, only to jump right back out with a shreak of surprise. Reaching over and turning the light on, she glared at the culprit of her sudden shock--a giant wet spot covering the width of the bed. She touched it with one finger experimentally, and recoiled as it sent a chill up her arm and down her spine.
"Must be a leak or something," she murmured to herself, looking at the ceiling. She didn't see anything, but who knew with these old cabins. With a moan of self-pity, she gathered her pillow and a blanket folded up at the foot of the bed, and headed downstairs.
She shivered unconsciously as she tossed her things onto the couch, but ignored it. Parker didn't shout in alarm this time, but it wouldn't take long for a nagging discomfort to rise her from her makeshift bed. Patting the cushions, she wasn't at all surprised to feel the itchy presence of crumbs, covering every inch of the sofa. "Of course," she muttered.
The bed makings, pulled down to the floor, weren't even straightened out. She was too tired, and too annoyed, to be willing to move anymore. Her body, however, had other ideas, instantly tightening up as her skin came in contact with the frigid floorboards.
"No way," she insisted through clenched teeth. "No way is it this cold. We just put the fire out ten minutes ago!" She stood and went over to the thermometer. Upon reading ist dial, it took everything she had to not scream in sheer irritation. "45 degrees?! Who the hell turned the heat down to 45?!" She returned the dial to an acceptable temperature of 70, but realized -her eyes narrowing- as she turned back to her bed on the floor, that it'd take awhile to warm up. With a growl she didn't even attempt to suppress, Parker yanked up her pillow, kicked the blanket aside, and stomped up the stairs.
Parker threw open a door, stalked through, and pressed it shut behind her. She moved blindly forward into the room, unfamiliar with the layout, until she came upon the large bed, and ducked quickly under the covers, waiting to close her eyes only long enough to puff her pillow.
"Now this is interesting."
"The other bed is nowhere near large enough to hold two people. And as for the rest--don't ask."
"Good thing I live by a strict set of morals, or I could take advantage of this situation," he said in a humored voice, a low chuckle following. In reply, Parker hit Jarod with her pillow.
~~~~~~~~~
Sam heard Jarod's laughter, slightly muffled by the walls between her room and his (or theirs, as the case would be), and smiled at her work. It hadn't been easy, slipping the ice cubes under Miss Parker's covers without making any noise, or spreading out the cracker crumbs downstairs and getting back up to bed before Miss Parker left her room. Still, it'd been worth it.
With a sigh of satisfaction, she snuggled deeper under the covers and fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~
Part III
by Orinana
"I never thought I'd say this, but you did a great job on breakfast, Parker." She had the sudden impulse to stick her tongue out at Jarod, but held it in. She'd just get him with another snowball later.
"So, what're we gonna do today?" Sam asked hopefully, looking between the two.
"Well, a trip to town is definitely out of the question," Parker sighed. She noticed Jarod avert his eyes, but made no comment. After all, it wasn't as if she wanted to bring him in, and--Wait a minute, where had that come from?
"Jarod says we're spending Christmas here," Sam announced, as she got up from her chair and picked up her empty plate.
"It does appear that way."
"Well, then, maybe we should decorate the cabin. We don't even have a tree, and--" -Sam's eyes widen in sudden realization- "Oh, no! How will Santa find me? We don't even have stockings!" This jarred Jarod from his brooding attitude, and he and Parker exchanged a nervous glance. How were they going to handle this emergency?
"Um, that's something that, er, you don't need to worry about. You know Santa's magical--he'll be sure to come here instead." Parker's smile faltered as Samantha headed off into the kitchen with slumped shoulders and a heavy sigh.
"No, he won't," she mumbled to herself. "I never even got to mail off my wish list."
"What're we going to do?!" Parker hissed as soon as the door swung shut behind Sam.
"Got me, but we have to do something," Jarod pointed out.
"Oh, a lot of help you are. An eight year old is going to lose her faith in Christmas, and we sit here, completely useless."
"Well what do you--" He stopped short as Sam re-entered the dining room.
"Thanks for putting your dishes away."
"No problem," she mumbled, settling back in her chair, and staring at the table. The two adults shot each other helpless looks.
"You know," Parker said suddenly, standing up from her chair, "that's a good idea, Sam." Both looked at her, confused. "Decorating the house. In fact, I bet you guys could even find a pretty cool tree outside. The snow isn't too bad right now--if you stayed close to the cabin, and tried to hurry."
"Yeah!" Sam shouted brightly in agreement, any sign of disappointment wiped from her face. "We can take the ax Jarod was using to chop wood!" She jumped out of her chair and ran into the living room.
"Sure, I'd like that," Jarod finally added. Samantha, however, was already done with her boots and slipping into her winter jacket. He leaned close to Parker. "This doesn't solve our problem."
"Don't worry," she assured him. "I've got a plan."
"And that would be--"
"I'm ready!" Sam unwittingly interrupted, running -as fast as possible in her puffy layers of winter garb- back to the table. Jarod smiled, and rose from the table.
"Go ahead outside, I'll just get my jacket. And stay next to the car!" he added, as she raced to the door. When the door closed behind her, he turned to face Parker as he picked up the ax that was leaning against a wall. "First we invade these people's home, now you've got me destroying their property. So, what's this great plan of yours?"
"While you go tree-hunting with Sam, I'm gonna hunt around the house. It's obvious these people don't have kids, but there's gotta be something we can give her."
"Wonderful, we're going to burglarize them, too."
"Oh, go chop down a tree. And try to buy me as much time as possible, but don't get lost or anything." She glanced out the window at the snow, large flakes peacefully falling."Who knows how long the weather'll stay this calm."
"Fine. Just do me a favor, and don't make anymore cooking attempts."
"I did a good job on those waffles, thank you very much."
"Yeah," Jarod grinned mischievously, "but I saw the burned remains of your first attempt in the garbage." He opened the door and ducked out before she could muster a reply.
~~~~~~~~~
Parker's laughter was still subsiding as she made her way down the upstairs hallway. No point in checking the bedrooms again, and it wasn't as if the bathroom had much to offer in the way of an eight-year-old's Christmas gift. This left the storage room, a task Parker was not looking forward to. Sure enough, no sooner had she opened the door to enter, than her sensitive nose began to itch in reaction to all the dust.
Nothing was stashed in boxes, and the stuffed room barely offered paths to the corners, where miscellaneous items reached nearly to the ceiling. One huge disorganized mess, a neat freak's nightmare. Parker raised an eyebrow as she passed a duck-shaped lamp. Obviously, good taste had not been a prerequisite for whomever had gathered all of this. One large table caught her eye, the items atop it covered with a blanket and a note pinned on: FOR BLOOMFIELD SPRING CHARITY AUCTION. She whipped off the blanket, immediately regretting the action as a large mushroom cloud of dust erupted in her face, resulting in a chain of three speedy sneezes.
Through reddened, watery eyes, Parker spied something in the middle of the table's clutter, and her smile returned.
~~~~~~~~~
"Miss Parker, Miss Parker!" Samantha's joyous shouts echoed through the cabin. Parker quickly moved out of her room, being sure to stop and shut the door. As she headed down the stairs, a scent of fresh pine greeted her. Sure enough, leaning against the wall next to the door was large, deep green tree.
"Isn't it great?" Sam beamed proudly, as Jarod sat wearily down on the couch. Parker gave him a questioning look.
"We had to find just the right tree," Jarod offered in way of an explanation, "and then I had to cut it down and drag it here." Besides, his eyes added silently with their slightly humored look, you did ask for me to keep her busy.
"You guys did a good job. And luckily, I found a tree stand upstairs, along with some other old stuff. No ornaments though."
"So how're we going to decorate it?"
"We'll make some," Parker decided. "It'll give us something to do tonight."
~~~~~~~~
By that evening, the tree was standing in one corner of the living room, completely decked out with foil stars, glitter-covered pine cones and a garland of popcorn. Jarod had lifted Sam up, and she'd placed a construction paper angel on top, the finishing touch. Parker hadn't been able to find any strands of lights either, but with all of the lights turned off, the fire reflected it admirably. They'd sat on the couch, Samantha in the middle, the others at opposite ends, enjoying the scene for the last 15 minutes or so, sipping hot cider and telling what they wanted for Christmas--not a bad ploy to find out what a certain little girl would've asked Santa for. Jarod noticed that Parker was more smiley than usual after that, but kept any comments to himself, snide, teasing or otherwise.
He downed the last of his cider, and turned to offer Sam some more, only to find her already asleep. He silently pointed her out to Parker, then reached over to pick her up. He'd just made it to the stairs when Sam woke up enough to mumble sleepily, "I want Miss Parker to tuck me in, too."
Up in her bedroom, they slipped her under the covers. Just as they were sneaking out, Sam sat up in bed. "Can I have a story, please?"
They looked at each other, and shrugged, then walked back over to the bed. Parker went around and got onto the bed, sitting next to Samantha, while Jarod perched on the edge of the other side.
"So, what story would you like to hear?"
"There was this really great one Jarod told me. Maybe you know another one with the same people." Jarod coughed uncomfortably, but didn't say anything.
"I might. Who was in the story?"
"Oh, it was really great. See, there's this huge kingdom, with an evil king named Raines, and an evil magician too, named Mutumbo."
"Oh, really," Parker said, giving Jarod a suspicious glance.
"Uh-huh. And there was Lyle, the court jester--" Parker laughed in spite of herself. "--and... and... oh, yeah! These two good mages, Sydney and Broots. And the fairy godmother, Catherine, helped them out. And the whole story was about Princess--"
"You know, Sam," Jarod cut off suddenly, "I don't think Miss Parker knows that one. In fact, that was the only story with those people." Samantha pouted unhappily. "Sorry, but I could tell you another story instead."
"Naw, that's the only good one."
"All right, then, good night."
"Yeah," Parker spoke up, smiling down at the little girl next to her, "sleep well."
"'Night." Jarod flicked on the lamp, then switched the light off as they headed out of the room. He looked at Parker for a reaction, but didn't get one, so waited for her say something. This was Parker, after all--she had an opinion on everything. However, she quietly picked up the cider mugs and carried them into the kitchen. He sat patiently on the couch, waiting to the weather the storm. No doubt a lecture on forcing his Centre opinions on some impressable little kid. Parker walked back in, and stood in front of him, hands on hips.
"There's just one thing I want to know," she said, her voice deep and fully serious, no hint of humor.
"Yeah?"
"Who'd you make Brigitte into?" He looked up in surprise, and saw her crack a smile. I'll be damned, he thought to himself. She actually thought it was funny. "Well?"
"The evil witch," he grinned. They both cracked up laughing.
~~~~~~~~~
"If only reality were more like a child's devices."
-Rosella Jacobson
"Not to sound rude or--what am I saying? Parker, it's 11:30 at night, and I've been running after a hyper kid all day, not to mention dragging a 9-foot tree all over god's creation. Why do you insist on keeping me up?"
"Samantha's been up and down all night. I wanted to make sure she was asleep for good."
"Yeah, what was up with that? It's like she was checking up on us or something."
"She's eight--who knows? Anyhow, this is what I wanted to show you." Parker opened the door to her room and shoved Jarod in, shot a look back towards Sam's room -wishing she didn't insist on having the door cracked- and slipped into the room as well, securing the door behind them. Parker's hand moved along the wall in the pitch black room blindly, groping for the light switch.
"Aw, honey, you should've just told me you wanted to make out."
"Oh, shut up." Her hand finally came across the switch, and flicked it on. She brushed past Jarod, and opened the closet door, motioning for him to look in. He did so, and his jaw dropped.
"My faith in Santa Claus has been renewed."
"I found it in the storage room," she said excitedly, picking up the large dollhouse and carrying it to the bed. "With a bunch of other stuff to be sold at an auction." Her eyes slid to the side to look at him. "And you can rest your pretty conscience about all that burglary nonsense--I put $50 in its place on the table." Jarod continued to inspect the dollhouse.
"I still can't believe this. I mean, this fits the description of what she wanted exactly. 'Blue with yellow shutters and a black roof, two stories, eight rooms.' " he quoted. "Even has the same wallpaper and carpet she mentioned."
"I realized that, too. And then I remember the old price tag I saw on the bottom." Jarod lifted it and looked under.
"Summerset Toys, huh? I forgot that was a chain. Well, the mystery is solved." He looked over at her. "Now all we have to do is find a way for Santa to stuff a stocking."
"Enough thinking for tonight," Parker sighed, placing the dollhouse back in the closet. "I'm tired. We'll talk in the morning."
"Right, sleep well." Jarod headed to his own room, and she willingly slid into a nightgown, only to find it far too cold, and so changed into a sweatshirt and flannel pants. Turning the light off, she took the two short steps to the bed, and eagerly headed under the covers, only to jump right back out with a shreak of surprise. Reaching over and turning the light on, she glared at the culprit of her sudden shock--a giant wet spot covering the width of the bed. She touched it with one finger experimentally, and recoiled as it sent a chill up her arm and down her spine.
"Must be a leak or something," she murmured to herself, looking at the ceiling. She didn't see anything, but who knew with these old cabins. With a moan of self-pity, she gathered her pillow and a blanket folded up at the foot of the bed, and headed downstairs.
She shivered unconsciously as she tossed her things onto the couch, but ignored it. Parker didn't shout in alarm this time, but it wouldn't take long for a nagging discomfort to rise her from her makeshift bed. Patting the cushions, she wasn't at all surprised to feel the itchy presence of crumbs, covering every inch of the sofa. "Of course," she muttered.
The bed makings, pulled down to the floor, weren't even straightened out. She was too tired, and too annoyed, to be willing to move anymore. Her body, however, had other ideas, instantly tightening up as her skin came in contact with the frigid floorboards.
"No way," she insisted through clenched teeth. "No way is it this cold. We just put the fire out ten minutes ago!" She stood and went over to the thermometer. Upon reading ist dial, it took everything she had to not scream in sheer irritation. "45 degrees?! Who the hell turned the heat down to 45?!" She returned the dial to an acceptable temperature of 70, but realized -her eyes narrowing- as she turned back to her bed on the floor, that it'd take awhile to warm up. With a growl she didn't even attempt to suppress, Parker yanked up her pillow, kicked the blanket aside, and stomped up the stairs.
Parker threw open a door, stalked through, and pressed it shut behind her. She moved blindly forward into the room, unfamiliar with the layout, until she came upon the large bed, and ducked quickly under the covers, waiting to close her eyes only long enough to puff her pillow.
"Now this is interesting."
"The other bed is nowhere near large enough to hold two people. And as for the rest--don't ask."
"Good thing I live by a strict set of morals, or I could take advantage of this situation," he said in a humored voice, a low chuckle following. In reply, Parker hit Jarod with her pillow.
~~~~~~~~~
Sam heard Jarod's laughter, slightly muffled by the walls between her room and his (or theirs, as the case would be), and smiled at her work. It hadn't been easy, slipping the ice cubes under Miss Parker's covers without making any noise, or spreading out the cracker crumbs downstairs and getting back up to bed before Miss Parker left her room. Still, it'd been worth it.
With a sigh of satisfaction, she snuggled deeper under the covers and fell asleep.
